LogFAQs > #946185525

DAY 22.1: The Empty Man
In Theaters

Okay, so I don't know whether or not I watched something brilliant or something that is complete bullshit.

The Empty Man is about a former undercover cop who investigates the disappearance of a girl after her and her friends play a game to summon The Empty Man.

This barely covers like 5% of this movie. You may be thinking "Oh, hahaha it's like The Bye Bye Man. Just some dumbass boogeyman right?" Surprise mother fuckers, it isn't that at all. And that's certainly what I was expecting.

This director has made documentaries on Lynch and Cronenberg, and you can tell with this movie. It's... like I don't even know what to say here.

The opening of this movie has nothing to do with anything I typed in that summary, for instance. But the opening of this movie? It's actually legitimately awesome. And when I say opening, I mean 15 minutes until you see "THE EMPTY MAN" appear on the screen.

From there, we get a boogeyman deal with a bunch of idiot teenagers. And some of the stuff here is really good. But from there? It's a mystery thriller. Straight up, we're doing investigations with some creepy (and somehow very effective) horror stuff thrown in. I won't get too much into it, but there's stuff in this movie that works so extremely well, but for the most part there's a lot of talking. Which is alright, because our protagonist played by James Badge Dale is pretty great.

But I was ready to go "This is pretty good, I guess." And then the ending of this fucking movie. I am just like floored. As I watched it play out, I just didn't know if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing, or if this ending is such bullshit, or if this ending is just such incredible nonsense. And yet I'm still like "I think this is actually something amazing." I DON'T KNOW. I have very confusing feelings.

If you're wondering why you didn't hear about this movie until two weeks before it came out, this is why. They don't know how to market this thing. It's not the boogeyman movie they're promoting it as, and I have no idea how you market this. If this had more exciting stuff going on in the middle, I would feel alright giving it a must watch score. But for now, I think... I think... 8/10? I think?

Oh, this movie is also 2h17m long. So... consider that as well. Because there's a lot to soak in with this movie. I just know I won't forget this movie for a very long time. Because my mind was blown so much I can't even come to terms with this movie.

Rating: 8/10

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